High-throughput Screen to Discover Secreted Activators of Microbial Metabolites

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  • February 26, 2019
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  • Gerber, Bryan
    • Affiliation: College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Biology
Abstract
  • Soil bacteria live in complex communities that include bacteria, fungi, and plants, collectivelyreferred to as the soil microbiome. Bacterial survival and behavior depend on the localmicroenvironments of each cell within the microbiome. For example, neighboring cells of twodifferent bacterial species can communicate via the production and sensing of secretedcompounds. Many such interactions are poorly understood. Here, I explored the molecularidentity of secreted bacterial signaling compounds that elicit changes in secreted metaboliteproduction. I first constructed luminescent transcriptional reporters for the production of severalcharacterized secreted compounds, using Bacillus subtilis as a model organism. A liquid-based,96-well-plate format was used to test the response of these reporters to a large collection ofcell-free conditioned media generated from monocultures of environmental bacteria. Eachluminescent reporter had different expression kinetics, which led to challenges when choosing acontrol for comparative purposes. After assay optimization and hit identification, conditionedmedia that elicited metabolite production will be fractionated to isolate and identify thecompound(s) responsible. This work thus establishes an approach to study the roles of keymetabolites with potential signaling roles within microbial communities. Understanding thesecomplex interactions has implications not only for the soil microbiome, and thus agriculture, butalso for the microbiomes of the intestine and other organs crucial for human health.
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Rights statement
  • In Copyright
Advisor
  • Shank, Elizabeth
Degree
  • Bachelor of Science
Academic concentration
  • Biology
Honors level
  • Honors
Degree granting institution
  • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Graduation year
  • 2017
Language
  • English

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